Here Ennis plays with having two protagonists, the expectations that arrangement has on the reader. Play might be the wrong word because play suggests it might be fun. Ennis doesn’t do it for fun, he does it to get a surprising ending.

See, the series has always had the two protagonists juxtaposed, but it’s only ever had one narrator. The reason for that inequality becomes clear this issue.

The issue opens an extended period after the first two and Ennis takes a few pages to establish the revised ground situation. It–and the snow of the Russian winter–make this issue feel fresh, like Ennis can do anything with it.

What he does–and I’ve read it and the first Battlefields series before–is create something rather special and rather important. Ennis has reached new ground as a writer with this series, singlehandedly showing the war comic to be a vibrant, important genre.

Magnificent.

Juxtaposing the two stories–the young male Nazi soldier and the young female Russian flier–might seem like a standard approach, but it produces some unexpected things.

The German fears the Russians, who the reader sees most personified as this young woman. She’s cheerful, mostly chipper and very good at her job. Her comrades are similar, caring about each other; she even has a flirtation with her CO, who originally didn’t even like the idea of female fliers.

Among his countrymen, the young German doesn’t have anything similar. The Nazis only really bond at the idea of gang raping a Russian girl. They’re the invaders and the psychological wear and tear is worse on them.

Ennis introduced them as generally anti-Hitler the first issue (that standard storytelling device–the soldiers aren’t necessarily happy Nazis), but shows this issue it wouldn’t make them any worse as they’re already monsters. They’re just regular invading monsters.

I don’t know if I appreciated Braun enough the first time I read this series. He can do the complex expressions (ranging from unsure Nazis to zealot ones, not to mention the Russian female fliers who feel alienated and overwhelmed) and all the action and all the equipment. He adds a sense of innocent to his characters (and humor) and really makes Night Witches work.

Ennis concentrates on setup here–but what’s so nice about that setup is how Ennis doesn’t cheap out in the end. He introduces the female fliers and shows a bit of their initial troubles, then let’s them get through a mission and its aftermath. All while juxtaposing a story of a Nazi unit, where the series’s narrator relates their side of things.

The last couple pages, an epilogue to the issue proper, illustrate the terrible situation the characters find themselves in.

An excellently plotted first issue.